


Why Him?

by Megpie71



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: M/M, Minor cursing, Perspectives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-20
Updated: 2017-12-20
Packaged: 2019-02-17 17:22:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13081629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Megpie71/pseuds/Megpie71
Summary: Why did Cloud Strife and Leon (Squall) Leonhart form a relationship?  Various people around Radiant Garden offer their opinions and insight.





	Why Him?

Why him? If you ask everyone else, it seems pretty obvious, although they'll each give their different reasons.

Dewey, always the most inquisitive of the duckling triplets, once asked each of them, and got the same answer in each case: "Why not?"

Cid just figures it's a combination of resignation on Leon's part, and pure cussed bloody-mindedness on Cloud's, and the whole thing would have blown over in a fortnight if Tifa hadn't been so adamant about pursuing Cloud all over the place. 

Rikku of the Gullwings just figures all the pretty wants to stay in one place. And boy, are those two pretty. Mind you, they're also both arseholes, particularly since Cloud spotted her peeking one night, and Leon went and purchased a flyscreen for their bedroom window the next day. Hmph. Took all the fun out of insomnia, that did.

Yuffie figures the two of them just have so much in common - they both of them speak as though it costs them ten munny per word, and they've been given a thousand to last the year; they both like fighting, harder the better; and they both drink the same horrible coffee. It's a match made in heaven!

Tifa agrees with Cid that some of it is Cloud's bloody-mindedness, but given she practically had to chase him into making a pass at Leon in the first place (and he only did so because she started stalking him everywhere) she suspects at least part of what's keeping the two of them together is their own reticence. After all, having an argument would mean they'd each have to _say something_ , rather than just grunting, or saying "whatever". It's all going to end horribly someday, she's sure, and then she's going to positively enjoy pointing out to her old friend Cloud, AT LENGTH, that he has to _tell_ people what he's thinking or they'll never figure it out. Like when Cloud didn't bother to tell her he was gay, just left it for her to figure out over the course of four years of "why doesn't he like me?" and subtle hints from Aerith. Bastard. 

Yuna of the Gullwings, who sometimes likes to take a bit of time off to herself and sit and think up on the battlements of the Bailey, thinks at least part of the reason is both of them are pretty lonely otherwise - they don't really have that many people who share a lot of experiences with them, after all. Leon's lost his home, his people, his entire planet really, and that's got to be difficult. Cloud, on the other hand, got betrayed by someone he loved and trusted, got forced to kill his own beloved, and carried the guilt for years - not helped, of course, by the fact killing Sephiroth never quite seemed to stick. But somewhere between the abandonment and the betrayal, Cloud and Leon found a space with each other where they could forge camaraderie, and out of that, forge something closer. The scars won't vanish, and the memories remain, but the worst of the wounds are starting to close now. They're good for each other, Yuna thinks.

Aerith, who sees a lot more than most people think, and a lot deeper than many of them would like, knows there's all of those factors and more. But then, she remembers the last remnants of who Squall was and the burdens Squall carried, from those first, terrible days of loneliness in Traverse Town; and she'd known Cloud for years before then, back before there was ever anything to forgive him for. She knows sometimes the blond hair Leon clutches for isn't Cloud's, and sometimes there's the name of another dark-haired man on Cloud's lips, tumbling out of dreams, nightmares, or even memories. She knows the journeys they've taken from one place to another, trying to find remnants of past lives (Sora and Riku sometimes drop hints and memories of their own, which make either Cloud or Leon flinch away from each other, and stomp off for a gummi ship from Cid) or deal with the over-active reminders of the present one (these days when Sephiroth comes clawing himself out of the incomplete death of the Darkness, it's the pair of them who go after him, not just Cloud alone). She knows there's furrows deeper than the ones the Darkness carved into their souls - knows Leon's hyper-conscious possessiveness tracks each and every one of His People because Squall lost too much too young, and never learned how to deal with it except by making sure never to lose anything ever again if he can avoid it. Knows Cloud's hair-trigger temper and need to be seen speak of the lonely upbringing of a mountain boy who was ignored by everyone except the town bullies. They hold on tight, those two, and it takes a strong will to survive the holding. 

(Tifa, for all she pouts outwardly about how Cloud let her down romantically, wouldn't have been able to survive him. Aerith is pretty sure a part of Tifa knows this; certainly she reconciled to him much faster than would otherwise have been expected).

So let Leon cling tightly to Cloud, watching over him and making sure he's kept safe; and let Cloud cling to Leon, never letting him go, and ever returning to his side. Let the two of them curl around each other like sides of the yin/yang figure Mulan showed her once, each filling in the gaps in the other's heart and making the other complete. Because in the heart of Leon's protectiveness there's a little boy who wants to be taken care of, and in the heart of Cloud's stand-offishness there's a well of caring deep enough to drown the sun.

**Author's Note:**

> This is set after the end of Kingdom Hearts II, and doesn't take any further additions to canon past that into account.


End file.
